Eturnagaram-Bhopalpatnam bridge to be opened for Pushkaralu
Workers giving final touches to the newly built pushkar ghats at Eturnagaram on Wednesday. (Photo: DC)
WARANGAL: The bridge over Godavari connecting Telangana and Chhattisgarh will finally be open for traffic during Godavari Pushkaralu which will begin on Friday. The 1.8 km long bridge begins at Bhopalpatnam in Chhattisgarh and ends at Eturunagaram here. Chief engineer of national highways department Ganapathi Reddy said the construction of the bridge which began in December 2012 will be completed totally in a couple of days and will be thrown open for traffic. He directed the concerned officials to make sure the bridge is ready on time.
All other works in regard to facilities for the large number of devotees who come here for the holy dip are almost completed. Lakhs of devotees from neighbouring Chhattisgarh, Odisha and Andhra Pradesh state are also expected to take part in the once in a 12 year massive religious event. District administration is gearing up to take steps so that there will be water checks every one hour and strict orders for the devotees to not use soap, shampoo, oil or any other such materials will be given. Steps to make sure no accidents take place at the bathing Ghats are being taken.
New BT roads were constructed on all major routes towards Ramannagudem, Jagalamma gudi, Kamalapuram and many other roads have been extended to allow free flow of traffic. Borewells, toilets, changing rooms were constructed near the ghats. Devotees from Andhra Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Odisha and other states across the country are expected to come to Warangal.
Pushkar Ghats of 410 metre have been built at four places in Eturnagaram and Mangapeta. Bathing Ghats of 100 metres were also built at Hemachala Narasimha Swamy temple in Mangapeta where a large number of devotees were expected to come for the holy dip.
Officials pray for delayed monsoon:
Officials looking after the pushkar ghat works are hoping that an early monsoon does not hinder the works. The state government has planned to ready pushkar ghats in Parnasala and Bhadra-chalam before June 15 before commencement of monsoon.
But, the goal may not be fulfilled as the progress has fallen short of expectations. A small amount of rain in Dandakaranyam will cause flood in Godavari from its tributaries such as Indravathi and Taliperu. If such situation arises, it would not be possible to continue the pushkar works.
It is estimated that the pilgrim rush in Bhadrachalam and Parnasala will be more than three to four lakh per day. The officials planned to make ready the pushkar ghats in Bhadrachalam and Parnasala for bathing of ten thousand pilgrims per hour during Godavari Pushkaralu. The plans of pushkar ghats were made as per the target.
Though the minister for roads and buildings Tummala Nageswara Rao and Jalagam Venkat Rao visited the holy towns and reviewed the works, officials expressed their abject inability to speed up the works due to different reasons.
Quality of work suffers:
Shortage of time gave scope for poor quality construction works related to Godavari Pushkaralu in the district. There was no supervision of the authorities on works at 30 places where 34 ghats in 14 mandals are being constructed. Godavari Pushkaralu will begin on July 14.
Most of the construction works of link roads, bathing ghats, road repairing works have not yet completed in the district. Vigilance officials who recently conducted an inquiry into the construction works related to Godavari Pushkaralu found poor quality in the works being taken up at Basar temple and found fault with the engineers involved in the works over their lack of supervision on the works. During his inspection, minister A. Indrakaran Reddy expressed displeasure over poor quality of road works related to Pushkarlu done in Chennur Assembly constituency.
However, the minister instructed the officials concerned to complete all construction works with regard to Godavari Pushkaralu before the June 30. The construction works related to Pushkaralu began two months late due to delay in finalising the tenders for works and augmentation of works.
( Source : deccan chronicle )
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